Description
Effective April 1, 2021, this preserve is open for limited driving tour access. This property is privately owned and managed in order to protect the sensitive species that call it home.
Use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or “drones”) is prohibited on or over the preserve.
We appreciate your help in protecting the landscape and respecting all those who enjoy it.
About Sycan Marsh
This vast, verdant wetland in the upper reaches of the Klamath Basin is a key site for wetland research and restoration and is home to thousands of nesting and migrating birds, threatened fish and newly discovered aquatic creatures. The preserve also includes upland forest.
Derived from the Klamath Indian term saiga keni, "Sycan" means "level, grassy place."
What TNC Has Done/Is Doing
Historically Sycan Marsh functioned as a giant sponge, soaking up the spring runoff and slowly releasing it into the Sycan River into the fall, but early 20th century dikes and drains were drying it out. With agency and watershed partners, TNC is restoring natural water flows to the system, revitalizing more than 20,000 acres of wetlands.
In partnership with the historic ZX Ranch, which holds a grazing lease, TNC is testing the compatibility of grazing practices with wetland restoration. The Jim Castles Applied Research Station, completed in 1997, provides research facilities for TNC scientists and meeting space for scientists and others to share research findings and restoration strategies.
Research includes radio telemetry studies of bull and redband trout migration and distribution patterns, studies of new species of mussel, lamprey, snails and other aquatic organisms, a botanical study of a highly unusual groundwater-fed fen, and breeding surveys of the elusive yellow rail.
The preserve also includes upland forest areas, providing a new opportunity for forest restoration.
